Smile

“That’s a single live guitar take. I did one pass and was done. There’s no click or anything – I just played. I did this song on the last tour as the second encore and just loved it. I was feeling it, and so I wanted to include it on the album.

“The lyric – ‘Smile though your heart is aching’ – that’s what I was like during my darkest times. I was a clown who was empty and miserable and crying inside. My mother died, and she loved the song, so I wanted to do this as a dedication to her.

“It’s not a flashy performance, it’s not perfect, but it’s simple and pure. We turned it from a guitar-and-Fender-Rhodes piece into more of a Stevie Wonder/Talking Book/Innervisions song. It’s touching.”